You can also write directly to info@voxelgroup.net and an expert from our team will contact you.

The new session of the baVel Digital Summit will talk about one of the most important aspects for the sector: B2B payments and how to rebuild trust among actors. The session “Exploring payment risk mitigating strategies in the hospitality space” will take place next October 21st at 4.30 pm virtually. 

The complex distribution chain and the cancellation and credit policies adopted by the hospitality industry have raised the risk non-payment scenarios and, consequently, trust among actors has decreased. Furthermore, the volatility of the market caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has emphasized the need for risk-mitigating strategies. These strategies will allow bookings to be made with protection measures and will contribute to rebuilding trust. 

During the talk, experts of the sector will analyse how the use of technology, early payments and robust refund policies can guarantee the continuity of the business and provide a more secure environment for B2B payments. 

The panel will have the participation of representatives of key-sector players such as Laurie GableHouse, Global Head of Travel Solutions at Ingenico ePayments and Ana Arjones, Manager at Enterprise Partnerships at Travel Industries at Mastercard. 

Register today here:

Also, remember that tomorrow, October 14th, at the same time we will present What data are telling us” next to Kantox, FastPayHotels, Mastercard and Comercia Global Payments. 

You can find all the information on upcoming baVel Digital Summit events here. 

See you there!

baVel has been integrated with  Juniper, a leading technology provider for the tourism industry, to boost B2B payments in the travel industry. With this alliance, Juniper clients will be able to directly access the baVel payment service provider ecosystem that currently integrates more than a dozen electronic-payment service providers.

The baVel and Juniper systems have been connected for over 10 years, offering electronic invoice issuance and reception services. From now on, travel companies that use Juniper as their main booking engine will also have the possibility to directly access to payment providers such as Barclaycard, XanderPay, eNett, Wex, Apiso, Kantox or American Express without having to develop integrations with each of them.

Advantages of electronic B2B payments

The use of baVel payment solutions has a direct impact on travel industry management. In the case of hotels, it automates payments and eliminates manual processing of cards, in addition to being able to link certain rates to low-cost payment solutions. Meanwhile, OTAs, bedbanks and travel agencies can access an ecosystem of multiple payment solutions with one single integration, eliminating costly payment reconciliation and recovering VAT internationally.

Furthermore, baVel’s electronic payment services offer a secure, robust environment and PCI Compliance in all the countries it operates in. Companies like W2M, Fastpayhotels and Portimar are already working successfully with the integration between baVel and Juniper.

baVel and Cangooroo

baVel will also be integrated into Cangooroo, Juniper’s booking engine for travel companies that plan to make a technological leap forward and expand globally. Cangooroo leads in Brazil and has a growing global presence. For current Cangooroo users, having a direct connection to an electronic transaction platform like baVel contributes real added value since the use of electronic invoicing in Latin America is very widespread. In fact, Brazil’s electronic invoicing system is one of the most successful and consolidated in the world.

DerbySoft announces an addition to the Connectivity Suite of services to include the newly launched Payment Connector in partnership with Voxel Group, the e-invoicing and payments leaders for the travel industry.

The Payment Connector was developed to provide virtual credit card (VCC) population in booking transactions on OTAs allowing Distributors to integrate this service directly through DerbySoft. Previously, Distributors had to expend extra effort and time to integrate to a separate third-party vendor and then put that agreement into their own messaging.

Advantages of the Payment Connector

In addition to reducing  time and effort, the Payment Connector does not charge additional service fees for the convenience of using DerbySoft for both Connectivity and Payments. Once a Distributor creates a partnership with Voxel, DerbySoft simply turns on the Payment Connector and a seamless integration is made without disturbing the day-to-day connection.

DerbySoft has successfully integrated the Payment Connector with Voxel and the TUI Group, a leading tourism company with hotel brands around the world.

Amanda Tabor Davis, Director of Product Strategy and Product Owner for Content Suite at DerbySoft, states, “DerbySoft found a need for Payment Service integrations in the market and moved quickly with Voxel to meet the needs of our joint partnership.” Tabor Davis further explains that, “This is a start for DerbySoft and Payment Services. We’re looking into more integrations with third-party payment processors and Distribution partners in the coming months“.

Voxel and TUI already using the Payment Connector

Voxel has been developing technology solutions for large and small companies in the travel industry for the past 20 years and aims to help clients to digitalize 100% of their B2B transactions, from billings to payments. Voxel leads the Open Payment Alliance (OPA), an initiative specially designed for the travel sector that aims to create a differentiated and decoupled B2B payment channel from the distribution channel and aims to become the benchmark for B2B payments in the travel industry.

The TUI Group is the world’s leading tourism group operating in 180 destinations worldwide. Based in Germany, the TUI Group provides comprehensive travel services for over 27 million customers ranging from hotel brands, cruise ships, tour operators and airlines.

DerbySoft plans to add additional payment functionalities with Payment Connector in the coming months including Direct Payments, Hedging and Fraud Prevention.

DerbySoft, global hotel distribution

DerbySoft makes the travel business easier by being the leading provider of high-performance hotel distribution. DerbySoft connects distributors and suppliers through the Connectivity Suite by offering streamlined connectivity at both the CRS and PMS levels.

DerbySoft also provides solutions for suppliers through the Digital Marketing Suite, which uses machine learning and rich data to drive high-performing digital marketing campaigns, and the Content Suite, a platform for collecting, managing and distributing quality hotel content to drive higher booking conversions and now, Payment Services.

With six offices around the globe and over 300 employees in over 11 countries, DerbySoft continues to grow and develop the next generation of online hotel distribution infrastructure.

Voxel Group, e-invoicing and payments leaders in the travel industry, have partnered with Kantox, a leader in foreign exchange (FX) management solutions for businesses, to enhance the B2B payment ecosystem in the travel industry. With this partnership, Kantox now forms part of Voxel Group’s baVel platform and is also the only company on the platform to offer FX risk management services.

The baVel platform currently has more than a dozen companies providing payment-related services. From now, any travel company that processes payments through baVel will also be able to access Kantox’s currency management solutions without leaving the platform, resulting in a frictionless user experience. Through baVel, travel companies are able to choose the payment method that best suits them for each transaction, thereby benefiting from reduced costs and an instant connection to the different payment providers.

Kantox has been working with travel companies for eight years and has built a range of solutions adapted to the specific needs of the industry. Efficient currency management has become a strategic element for many travel companies, allowing them to boost their profitability and increase competitiveness while keeping their FX risk under control.

For Xavier Ginesta, President of Voxel Group, “This partnership with Kantox has strengthened our commitment to enhancing payment flows between businesses in the travel industry. Our goal is to achieve a more efficient payment process for all parties, while offering the best payment providers to all baVel customers.”

Ginesta adds that “Travel companies work with many different foreign currencies at the same time and Kantox’s currency management solutions will help to improve our customers’ profitability.”

Antonio Rami, COO and co-founder of Kantox, further adds that “Kantox is pleased to partner with travel industry leaders, Voxel Group, to deliver a highly unique product that provides tangible benefits to companies in the travel sector. Thanks to the integration of our solutions, baVel clients can now automate the execution of their payments and FX risk management strategy in a more efficient way. We look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

The future of B2B payments in the tourism industry

Historically, B2B payments have been one of the main sources of inefficiencies for travel companies and Voxel Group has been working on a specific payment channel for the travel industry for years. With its strong understanding of the needs of the industry and more than 20 years’ experience, Voxel Group is leading the Open Payment Alliance (OPA) together with the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA), in collaboration with the Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG).

The OPA is an initiative specially designed for the travel sector that aims to create a differentiated and decoupled B2B payment channel from the distribution channel. To do this, Voxel has developed Payment Manager – the equivalent to the Channel Manager in the payment process – and works with different payment providers, such as Kantox. This way customers have not just an efficient and error-free workflow, but also a wide range of payment providers to choose from, based on the needs of each transaction.

Nowadays, the travel industry is one of the most important industries of the planet. According to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), tourism has grown above average, at around 4% per year, for eight straight years, becoming the third biggest world’s sector. In 2017, international tourism reached $1,340 billion. Only in Spain, international tourism reached $68 billion, being the second country with more profit in 2017.

While tourism has continuously grown, many administrative daily processes remain obsolete. The invoicing system was one example, where manual procedures and reconciliation made work harder and disrupted the cash flow. Nowadays, the system has been digitised and streamlined with electronic billing.

Currently, electronic B2B payments are one of the main paint points of the industry, as there isn’t a specific payment channel to cover the needs and bring innovation, agility and security to the sector. In addition, as there are many actors involved in the process, it is a challenge to create a secure and flawless cash flow.

B2B Payment methods and weaknesses

These are some pain points of the payment methods between companies in the travel industry:

• Fax transmission of credit cards, which increases manual procedures, connexion errors and PCI security breaches.
• Administrative costs: most credit cards are processed manually, increasing human errors and chargebacks.
• Card fees: credit card processing fees range from 2 to 3% and can also involve conversion fees and cross-border fees on top of these.
• Breakage: forgetting to charge a card or undercharging accounts for an additional 2% of net revenue in some occasions.
• Ad-hoc hidden costs: unexpected administrative costs to process certain credit cards can make card fees to go over 10%.
• Billback: delays or cancellations which affect companies’ cash flow.
• Limited currency support: CC issuers only support limited currency subsets which results in extra conversion fees or cross-border fees.

In front of this situation, the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA), in collaboration with Voxel Group and 50 other companies of the travel industry, have created the Open Payment Alliance (OPA). The purpose of it is to create a payment standard that streamlines the processes and payment methods of the travel industry, and make a more efficient cash flow for the industry.

In Voxel Group, we have developed technological solutions for 20 years to simplify, automate and digitalise the back office processes. With this new alliance, we want to create an innovative system to streamline the payment flow in the travel industry.

Apiso today announced that it has entered into a long-term marketing and distribution partnership with Spanish technology company Voxel Group to promote the growth of its advanced payment integration solutions. The partnership was signed at the prestigious baVel Travel Summit held between 22^nd and 24^th May 2019 in Barcelona.

Apiso is a technology company that provides industry-leading open-API and web-based integration and distribution services with international customers and multiple channel partners including global distribution systems, travel technology companies, and third-party administrators in the insurance sector. It works with back-end issuing partners that are members of the Mastercard global payment network to automate the provision and administration of Mastercard virtual cards for B2B supplier payments.

Voxel Group provides technology in B2B Payments, eInvoicing and VAT refund. It offers leading solutions in eBilling, ePayments and supply chain via baVel, the world leading eSettlement platform for the hotel and travel industries that provides services to more than 50,000 hotels, 800 tour operators and travel companies in 120 different countries.

The partnership and resulting technical integration between Apiso and Voxel’s baVel platform will facilitate access by Voxel’s customers and partners to Apiso’s unique product offering in the Middle East region and will enable Voxel to further penetrate this growing region and scale its operations across the Middle East and Africa region.

Andrew Sims, Director, Apiso said “The addition of this valuable partnership will enable Apiso to broaden its reach by gaining access to the wide range of partners and customers already integrated into the baVel ecosystem and will drive transactions and payment volume to our issuing partners in the MEA region”.

Xavier Ginesta, Chairman, Voxel Group said: “With this agreement, Voxel extends the partners’ ecosystem of our B2B Payments Solution and the regional scope of our value prop, proving our commitment to streamline payments in the travel space”.